Truth and Communities Coming Together are a Requirement for a City in Dire Need of a Turnaround

Posted on July 25, 2014

Steve Mensing, Editor

♦ It’s 5 a.m. and I’m sipping on my first cup of coffee. What’s really is important is the sobering fact that Salisbury is in dire need of a reformation and turnaround on many levels:

• Unsafe streets where young men are making some seriously bad choices in the name of affiliation, pride, and not-yet-learned values.

• Corruption and cronyism in city hall.

• Short-sighted banking and real estate families making deals and attempting to control the city’s shrinking playing field. It isn’t working well for anybody. There’s little water left in the well as people move away.

• A shortage of truth and ethical conduct in city hall and among individuals who ought to be overseeing it.

• Challenges apparently in the ethical culture of the school system. No one in any position of authority should ever entertain any thoughts about a “no bid” contract. No bid contracts are criminal and cheat the taxpayer.

One very apparent challenge in Salisbury is truth avoidance. Whether it’s about “disturbing demographics”, Fibrant’s financial performance, glossing over crime and break-ins in “8 Block”, or what actually happened during the “mutual termination”, some people are not considering the long-term consequences of truth avoidance. Truth best never be kept secret. It doesn’t work. Truth often comes out painfully for those who dodge it or deny it.

Truth is a great balm whose unsparing use on a regular basis brings health and a clear perspective. It guides prudent decisions.

In cities what affects one neighborhood generally affects other neighborhoods. Communities coming together and sharing concerns, perspectives and answers are far more powerful than inert municipal governments hiding the truth and more interested in creating favorable publicity than actual performance. “To seem rather than to be” doesn’t cut it. It’s eating Salisbury alive.

We look forward to the accent on communities coming together for mutual benefit. A large number of wise heads, directly affected by a problem, have far more power than a few with no real skin in the game.